Promises of bin Laden photos deliver viruses

MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) – Although photos of Osama Bin Laden's body will not be officially released, many people are turning to the internet in hopes of finding leaked photos.

All the of photos of his body online are fake, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation warns many of them are links to viruses. Emailed links or attachments are of particular concern.

La-Queya Harde said she wants to see the photos, and although she has had a virus on her computer in the past promises to see the body are tempting.

"You gotta see it to believe it," she said.

Mark Blakely agreed. He said he wants to see the photos so everyone can move forward.

"I think American needs to see them," he said. "They need to put closure to 9/11, and that's going to be the only way."

There are plenty of options on the internet. A Google search for "Osama bin Laden death photo" returns more than 70 million results, five million of them in pictures. Facebook posts also promise bid laden death photos.

Greg Whinnie at True Blue computers in Myrtle Beach said computer users should be cautions when it comes to those links. He has already had customers come in this week with problems because they clicked on a link for bin Laden photos.

"It's going to direct you to something that auto-loads a virus," he said. "The virus could be anything from it tracks what you're doing, tracks credit card information, tracks identities, cookies. Sometimes it's just an annoyance."

Whinnie said the hackers who make viruses take advantage of opportunities like this, knowing people will be tempted to click on a hot topic.

"I try not to click on anything, but probably if I saw Osama, then yeah, I would probably click on it," Harde said.

Whinnie said the best way to avoid getting a virus is to not use the internet, but since that is not really practical he said computer users should be sure anti-virus software is up to date. Also do not click on anything not requested or expected from someone else he said.